Late replacement Dakota Cochrane made the most of his big-stage
opportunity, downing former WEC champ Jamie Varner via unanimous
decision, and UFC vet Eddie Sanchez earned a unanimous-decision win over
former Strikeforce heavyweight Brett Rogers in the featured contests of
Friday’s Titan Fighting
Championship 20 event.

Titan Fighting
Championship 20 took place at Memorial Hall in Kansas City,
Kan.

The evening’s main card aired on HDNet.

Cochrane was aggressive at the opening bell of the main event, landing with flurries of punches and kicks as Varner struggled to get comfortable in the cage. A late Varner takedown looked as if it might shift the momentum of the fight, but Cochrane worked back to his feet. Varner scored a second takedown and moved to mount, but he wasn’t able to capitalize on the position before the end of the round.

In the second, Varner returned to the takedown-based attack, but Cochrane refused to stay on his back. The late-replacement remained with crisp with his strikes and even briefly swept to top position.

Down two rounds to none, Varner came out striking in the final frame. He then again resorted to a takedown, but Cochrane defended well from his back before sweeping to the top. Cochrane bloodied his opponent with a ground-and-pound attack before the pair briefly returned to the feet and Varner tried to land a desperation triangle choke. He came up just short, and Cochrane was rightly awarded a unanimous decision.

Cochrane (11-1) is now riding a seven-fight winning streak. Varner (17-6-1) is just 1-4-1 in his past six fights and on Twitter hinted at retirement following the disappointing loss.

In the night’s heavyweight co-feature, UFC and Bellator Fighting Championships veteran Sanchez used a steady diet of low kicks to best Strikeforce vet Rogers in a slow-paced three-round affair.

Much of the fight took place in the clinch, where Rogers couldn’t land any of his patented knockout blows, and Sanchez mixed in a few takedowns to claim control of the positioning. Sanchez’s shin was bloodied in the third round, but he continued to pepper Rogers’ legs. Unfortunately, the moderate pace remained less-than-appealing for most of the affair, and Sanchez was awarded a split-decision win after 15 minutes in the cage.

Sanchez (13-5) snaps a two-fight losing streak with the result. Rogers (11-4) is now just 1-4 in his past five outings.

Undefeated prospect Anthony Gutierrez made quick work of Shane Hutchinson, nailing an anaconda choke just 65 seconds into their main-card matchup.

Hutchinson looked to strike early, but Gutierrez took the fight to the floor and worked in the submission as his opponent tried to scramble back to his feet. Gutierrez (4-0) remains perfect in his young career by handing Hutchinson (4-11) his fifth-straight loss.

WEC and Bellator Fighting Championships vet James Krause wasted little time in tapping submission specialist Sean Wilson. After avoiding Wilson’s strikes in the early going, Krause clinched his foe and tripped him to the floor. Krause moved swiftly to mount and latched onto a guillotine choke. Wilson tried to resist but had no choice but to tap two minutes and 39 seconds into the fight.

Heavyweights Justyn Riley and Alex Huddleston went toe-to-toe from the opening bell and provided some solid action in the opening five minutes. Things slowed a bit in the second, but Riley claimed victory on the floor.

Using a nifty sweep to work to top position, Riley avoided an armbar attempt and took mount on his opponent. A powerful elbow strike saw Huddleston (1-1) wilt on bottom, and Riley (4-2) continued the assault on top, forcing the stoppage.

In the evening’s first televised contest, late-replacement Andrew Whitney outlasted a game Laramie Shaffer to score a crushing third-round knockout. Likely down two rounds to none, Whitney (5-1) launched into a flying knee just 21 seconds into the third and final round. The blow was a direct hit, and Shaffer (2-3-1) was out cold.

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